Chapter 4: Lu Bu

After those terrifying messages from the feminine voice. 003 once again had only his thoughts swarming his mind, but just as he calmed down the messages returned.

Aegis analysis complete.

New energy mass forming near cerebral cortex identified as Demon core. Energy mass adequate substitute to power Substance X and Aegis functions.

Properly merging general memories from self proclaimed Knoll consciousness with host.

Unable to merge further information from self proclaimed Knoll consciousness.

Resistance exceeds ability of current energy reserves. Expenditure of Limited energy reserves deemed unnecessary.

After reviewing information from Knoll consciousness, Aegis has deemed pertinent to merge Divine Wolf Blood with hosts circulatory system.

Merging Divine Wolf Blood with host's newly formed demon core.

Merge was a success.

Merge will produce additional Wolf blood for host, increasing chance of survival.

Error!

Physical body unable to withstand additional energy due to the bloods introduction. Host will spontaneously combust shortly.

Analyzing host status. Survival protocols initiated.

Stimulating substance X for survival.

Warning!

Action will deplete energy reserves. Aegis will shutdown all non-critical functions.

Sedating host.

Shutdown complete.

As the messages were finishing 003 lost consciousness and next time he awoke he was in a crib with Lady Lu holding a another baby in a rocking chair nearby.

What followed in his situation for the next three years initially irritated 003 and then lulled him into a sense of complacency.

Lady Lu and clan leader Lu had spun quite the fair amount of non sense regarding his identity, to solidify their hold on him. They claimed his birth was from a pair of adulterous branch family members named Lu Bu and Lu Lin. Names that afterwards were never used for any children to avoid the association to the shameful couple.

It was said Lu Bu, a branch family member serving under the house of Lu Kan, and Lu Lin, wife of Lu Kan, conspired together to murder her husband and claim his inheritance. Things were going according to plan until recently when the birth of a child from Lu Lin threw Lu Kan into a rage! The child was born with a branch family mark on his forehead, as a Lu family member from the main line, the child couldn't possibly be his!

Thus the adulterous couple fled with child in hand from the pursuit led by the estate of Lu Kan and pursued up to Emerald city where it's said they smuggled aboard a trade ship to the capital, Holy Raiment city. The forces of Lu Kan eventually caught the adulterous couple who were forced into a gruesome death, but the child was never found.

This was the false identity 003 inherited. Lu Kan was informed of the true situation by the Lu clan leader, and Lu Kan soon issued a statement that the child would not be killed by him as he was not as shameful as his former wife and servant. He righteously claimed he would never take out his anger on a defenseless child. In order to keep appearances and humiliate the bastard child though, he demanded it should be named Lu Bu after the scoundrel father that sired him, being forced to bear the shame of the name for the rest of his days.

This information was all grasped by 003, now known as Lu Bu , over the first year of his stay in the Lu Family. In this time he acted like a baby should and tried endlessly to communicate with the Aegis system.

In the second year of his stay the Lu higher ups were losing hope that he had anything to do with the heavenly lightning treasure and solidified his identity as a Lu branch member by applying a genuine branch family brand on his forehead.

The process normally was extremely painful for the adults the brand was intended for, but Lu Bu stunned the administering elder by not letting out so much as a whimper. This odd situation was transmitted to the Lu clan leader.

The Lu clan leader originally intended of leaving the child in the care of the Branch Family War Bureau where young orphans were raised to become the military's warriors, or to be more honest... their cannon fodder.

After discussing the event with Lady Lu he decided to make the boy a death warrior for his recently born daughter instead. The children had been in adjoining cribs up to this point so it seemed appropriate for the boy sharing the young Miss's room to be her death warrior.

In this time where his future was being decided, rumors about the bastard child Lu Bu swarmed the Lu family compound. At first endless rumors of how the child was ugly beyond compare and how his beady little eyes seemed to constantly be scheming were circulated by the young Miss's wet nurses who were often forced to care for him as well.

As the announcement of his death warrior status for the young Miss circulated, the rumors shifted from pure disdain to those tinged with jealousy, as the little bastard was now the Clan leaders ward and would likely receive the Lords aid in cultivation. Should he have talent, he may even be able to shed his branch family and death warrior status, and be adopted by the clan leader. This had occurred in other households and death warriors becoming a genuine member of the household was a common tactic for large family's to bind these death warriors to their charge. This was akin to the young child becoming a swan from an ugly duckling.

To spur on his new change in status, rumors on Lu Bu's peculiarities were soon the talk of the Lu family compound. The boy was growing silvery white hair, his pupils were taking a grayish hue, his teeth resembled fangs, and he started walking in his crib before the young Miss and often stood near and observed her like a guardian would. He had also suddenly gained handsome features and his eyes were no longer scheming but filled with wisdom according to the wet nurses. They often brought their own daughters to play with the little Miss and secretly tried to play match maker with Lu Bu. The wet nurses also claimed the heavens were pushing the boy to wash away his parent sins and endowed him with the spirit of a guardian so he could redeem himself by protecting the Young Miss.

All this nonsense, upon further nonsense, was gathered by the young Lu Bu. He absolutely hated the rumors for drawing so much attention to him, and the endless amount of suitors the wet nurses stuck in front of him. What did these crazy women expect!? He was a child for heavens sake and not only that, he was definitely older at least in mind, than these snot nosed brats. He had more than enough of the drool and cries that would come his way on these so called play dates. Despite his distaste for the situation, the changes to his appearance were not a lie, and his bodily functions were performing at an abnormal rate so he did in fact often approach the Young Miss to identify if his new changes were out of the ordinary. It seemed odd to him he could control his body so well and his stamina seemed to be endless.

He quickly found these traits were indeed abnormal for the children of this world and could only curse the Aegis system in his mind. He quickly began to suppress his special traits and delayed a lot of his milestones until his Young Miss succeeded.

His Young Miss was hailed as a genius when she developed complete coherent speech at the age of four and was the talk of the clan for many a moon, Lu family members on business outside of the compound often bragged endlessly of the young genius. Unbeknownst to the world he Lu Bu had developed speech even before she did and while he often avoided talking, the claims of him being a genius as well quickly spread. The Lu family quickly bragged about this too and credited the young Miss's genius rubbing off on her death warrior, as they say a phoenix would only coexist with a dragon.

With his consciousness being much older and developed this was nothing special to 003, but what really stood out to him was his physical prowess.